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MachineTools For Machining
MachineTools For Machining
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Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 812
Machine Tool Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
Machines with Single-Point Cutting Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
Machines with Multipoint Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 824
Machine with Grinding Wheels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 841
Machining Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 847
Machine Tool Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849
Spindle Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850
Feed Drives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 851
Numerical Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 853
Nontraditional Machine Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
Industrial Robots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
Parallel and Hybrid Kinematic Machine Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 859
Reconfigurable Machine Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 860
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 864
Abstract
Machining operations are among the most versatile and accurate manufacturing
processes in terms of its capability to produce diverse and complex geometric
features. This chapter takes its focus on the machining processes utilizing sharp
cutting tools to remove materials from the workpiece by shear deformation.
The main principle of these processes is providing the relative motions between
the cutting tool and the workpiece, which is accomplished through machine
tools. The machine tools are discussed and categorized based on the employed
Introduction
Development of machine tools for manufacturing was closely related to the Indus-
trial Revolution, which is marked by the successful development of steam engine
by James Watt in 1776. When he started designing the steam engine in 1763, his
primary challenge was to make the bore of the cylinder sufficiently accurate to
prevent the steam from escaping around the piston. The initial cylinder was
manufactured from sheet metal, which certainly did not work properly. The prob-
lem was eventually solved by John Wilkinson when he invented a waterwheel-
powered horizontal-axis boring machine around 1775. This machine is often
recognized as the first machine tool.
Since then, machining process and machine tool have always been essential in
product design and manufacturing. Some even argue that machining is the most
versatile and accurate of all manufacturing processes in terms of its capability to
produce diverse geometric features. Further, parts manufactured by casting,
forming, or other shaping processes often require machining operations before
being assembled for the final product. This final machining operation is required
because the parts may have external and internal profiles, as well as sharp corners
and flatness that cannot be accurately achieved by forming and shaping processes.
Also, because many engineering components or parts need to be interchangeable, it
requires control of dimensional accuracy, which can be achieved through machin-
ing process. Therefore, critical choices have to be made during product design and
manufacturing planning about the extent of casting, shaping, or forming against the
extent of machining to be done on a workpiece.
Machining is the general term used to describe the material removal process
from a workpiece, which is a wide topic. In the interest of a focused discussion, the
scope of this chapter is limited to the processes using sharp cutting tools to form a
chip from the workpiece by shear deformation. This chapter also describes the
machine tools to perform these machining operations. Besides the operations
20 Machine Tools for Machining 813
Fig. 1 Coordinate system for motions of (a) tool and (b) workpiece
described in this chapter, other mechanisms can be applied to remove material other
than using sharp cutting tool. These alternative mechanisms may involve the use of
mechanical (e.g., ultrasonic or water jet machining), thermal (e.g., electrical dis-
charge, electron beam, laser beam, arc, or oxyfuel machining), electrical, or chem-
ical energy (e.g., etching) or even a combination of these energies (e.g.,
electrochemical machining).
The main principle of all machining processes is providing suitable relative
motions between the cutting tool and the workpiece to produce the characteristic
geometry. Generally, two kinds of relative motion must be provided either by a
machine tool or manually; they are called the primary motion and feed motion. The
primary motion is the main motion that causes relative motion between the cutting
edge and workpiece. The feed motion is one that when added to the primary motion
leads to a repeated or continuous chip removal to create a machined surface with the
desired geometric characteristics. The resultant of these two tool motions is called
the resultant cutting motion. For example, in cylindrical turning on lathe, the
primary motion is the rotation of the workpiece on its axis, and the feed motion is
the motion of the cutting tool along the axis of the workpiece. The secondary
principle is imparting the shape of the cutting tool to the workpiece in order to
create part geometry. The two principles are sometimes combined in one operation.
For example, in slot milling, the primary motion is the rotation of the mill on its
axis, and the feed motion creates the slot. The width and shape of this slot are
dependent on the geometry of the cutting tool.
The International Organization of Standards (ISO 841 2001) has recommended a
system of machine tool axes to describe the motions of both the tool and workpiece
shown in Fig. 1. The system was established for the purposes of programming
numerically controlled machine tools. However, it can also be adopted to describe
general machine (Boothroyd 1975).
The three coordinate axes X, Y, and Z refer to possible linear motions of the tool,
and motions A, B, and C refer to possible rotary motions of the tool about those
axes, respectively. The Z axis is arranged parallel to the axis of the spindle of the
814 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
machine, which normally provides the primary motion. If the machine has no
spindle, the Z axis is arranged perpendicular to the worktable. Motion in the
positive Z axis increases the distance between the workpiece and tool holder. The
X axis is parallel to the worktable and, wherever possible, should be horizontal. For
machine tools with rotating workpieces, the X motion is radial, where positive
X axis is defined as the tool motion when it moves further off the axis of rotation of
the workpiece. On machine tools with rotating tools, if the Z axis is horizontal, the
positive X axis is to the right when viewed from the main spindle toward the
workpiece; if the Z axis is vertical, the positive X axis is to the right when viewed
from the main spindle toward the machine column. The positive Y motion is
selected to complete the right-hand coordinate system.
For the motion of the workpiece, a similar set of axes are employed. However,
the corresponding letter is primed for differentiation, and the sign is reversed so that
both sets of axes use the same sign convention to represent the same relative
motion. For example, a tool approaching a workpiece can be represented by the
motion of either the tool in the positive X direction or the workpiece in positive X’
direction. It is important to note that the X’Y’Z’ coordinate system does not follow
the right-hand rule.
Section “Machine Tool Operations” describes some common machine tools
along with the operations, which are grouped in three based on the employed cutting
tools. These categories are based on the use of single-point cutting tools, multipoint
cutting tools, and abrasive wheels. The machining processes based on the relative
motions of the machine tools are correspondingly illustrated. Besides dedicated
machine tools, this section also describes machining centers, which have flexibilities
to perform various machining operations with different cutting tools on more than
one workpiece. Key components of these machine tools based on their functions are
grouped into the supporting structures, drivers, and controls. Drivers and controls
will be elaborated in section “Machine Tool Structures.” Section “Nontraditional
Machine Tools” highlights several emerging machine tools used in industries.
Finally, concluding remarks will be presented.
Single-point cutting tools are those having one sharp cutting edge attached to the
shank. The cutting edge is intended to perform cutting, produce chip, and create
machined surface on the workpiece. The geometry of a typical right-hand single-
point tool is shown in Fig. 2.
The tool angles have important functions in cutting operations. The rake angle
controls the chip flow direction and strength of the tool tip. Positive rake angles
improve the cutting operation by reducing forces and temperatures, but reduce the
strength of the tool, as the small angle may cause the cutting edge to chip away. In
the general case of oblique cutting, there are two rake angles, namely, side and back
20 Machine Tools for Machining 815
rake angles. As cutting takes place on the side of the tool, the side rake angle is of
primary importance. The back rake angle also affects the ability of the tool to shear
the work material and form the chip. The relief angle controls the tool interfacing
with the workpiece. Too large relief angle may cause the tool to chip off, while too
small angle may result in high frictional forces due to rubbing between the flank
surface and workpiece causing excessive flank wear. The cutting edge angle affects
the chip formation, tool strength, and cutting forces. The nose radius affects the
surface finish and tool tip strength. Smaller radius creates rougher surface finish on
the workpiece and weaker tool tip. However, large radius can lead to excessive
force and tool vibrations.
Center Lathe
Figure 3 shows a center lathe with its principal components. This versatile machine
tool, which is often called as the engine lathe, is mainly used for low to medium
production. The term “engine” dates from the time when these machines were
powered with overhead pulleys and belts, driven by steam engines. Nowadays,
various types of automation have been added to the lathes to improve efficiency and
accuracy for repetitive operations.
A center lathe consists of a horizontal bed or base supporting all other major
components. The headstock, which is fixed to the bed, is equipped with motors,
816 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
pulleys, and V-belts that rotate the spindle, which rotates the workpiece at various
speeds. Levers on the front of the headstock are to select the rotational speeds. The
headstock has a hollow spindle to which the workholding devices, such as chucks
and collets, are attached. Opposite the headstock is the tailstock, which can slide
along the ways and be clamped at any position. A center is mounted in the tailstock
to support the other end of a long workpiece. A short workpiece is normally
supported only by the chuck.
The single-point cutting tool is held in a tool post fastened to the cross slide.
The assembly of the tool post and cross slide is referred as the carriage. The
carriage is designed to slide along the guides in order to feed the tool parallel to
the axis of rotation. The guides are tracks along which the carriage rides. They are
made with great precision to achieve a high degree of parallelism relative to the
spindle axis.
The feed rod, which is powered by a set of gears from the headstock, rotates
during the operation of the lathe and provides movement to the carriage and the
cross slide. The leadscrew is especially useful to accurately machine threads on a
workpiece. It is engaged with the carriage by a closing split nut.
Primary motion in a lathe is the rotation of the workpiece (C0 motion), which is
provided by the spindle. The feed motion can be provided by driving the carriage
along the bed (Z motion). Alternatively, the carriage can remain stationary; the tool
post is driven across the carriage (X motion) using a leadscrew in the cross slide. As
an example, Fig. 4 shows a cylindrical surface being generated on a workpiece by
the rotation of the workpiece (C’ motion) and the movement of the carriage along
the lathe bed (Z motion). This operation is known as cylindrical turning.
The feed motion setting on the lathe is the distance moved by the tool during
each revolution of the workpiece. Once chosen, the feed setting remains constant
20 Machine Tools for Machining 817
regardless of the spindle speed. The feed f is defined in mm/rev as the displacement
of the tool relative to the workpiece. To machine a cylindrical workpiece from one
end to another, the machining time tm is given by
L
tm ¼
fN
where tm is the machining time in minute (min), L is the length of the machined
surface in mm, and N is the rotational speed of the workpiece in revolutions/minute
(rev/min).
It should be noted that tm is the time for one pass of the tool along the workpiece.
This single pass does not necessarily mean that the whole machining operation is
completed. Further, this does not include the time required for tool approach and
retraction. Machine tools are now designed and built to minimize the total operation
time by minimizing the number of tool passes as well as the distance and time for
tool approaching and retraction. As shown in Fig. 4, for each workpiece revolution, a
ring-shaped layered of material is removed. The cross-sectional area of this layer is
the product of the feed f and depth of cut d in mm, which is given by d ¼ (Do Dm)/2.
Do is the initial diameter of the workpiece in mm, while Dm is the diameter of the
machined surface in mm. The product of this area with the average circumference of
the ring, which is πDav, where Dav ¼ (Do + Dm)/2, gives the amount of material
removed in one revolution. Thus, the material removal rate (MRR) is given by
The maximum surface cutting speed is defined as Vmax ¼ πDoN, while the
average one is Vav ¼ πDavN.
Besides cylindrical turning, a variety of other machining operations can be
performed on a center lathe using single-point tool. These processes, which produce
parts with radial symmetry but vary in terms of feed motion, are illustrated in Fig. 5:
818 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
(a) Facing. By moving the cross slide, the cutting tool is fed perpendicular to the
axis of rotation into the rotating workpiece to produce a flat surface at the end of
the workpiece or to produce grooves for O-ring seats.
(b) Taper turning. By moving both the carriage and cross slide, the cutting tool is at
an angle, thus creating a tapered cylindrical or conical shape.
(c) Contour turning or profiling. Instead of feeding the cutting tool along a straight
path, it follows a contour that is other than straight.
(d) Chamfering. The cutting tool is used to cut an angle on the corner of the
workpiece, creating a chamfer.
20 Machine Tools for Machining 819
(e) Parting or cutting off. Similar to facing, the cutting tool is fed radially into the
rotating workpiece. This time, the tool is fed somewhere along the length of the
workpiece, cutting a piece from the end of the workpiece.
(f) Threading. The cutting tool is fed parallel to the axis of rotation at a large
effective feed rate to create threads at the outside surface of the rotating
workpiece. For this operation, the single-point tool has a geometry that shapes
the thread.
(g) Boring. The cutting tool is fed parallel to the axis of rotation on the inside
diameter of an existing hole in the workpiece.
There are other machining operations that can be performed on a lathe with tools
other than the single-point one. An example is form turning, which utilizes a
specially designed multipoint tool called a form tool. Drilling can also be performed
on the lathe using a drill bit, which is also a multipoint tool.
Boring Machine
Similar to turning, boring uses a single-point tool to remove material from a
rotating workpiece. However, boring is an internal turning operation, which is
performed on the inside diameter of an existing hole. Consequently, boring can
be performed on lathes as discussed in the previous subsection in Fig. 5g. None-
theless, lathes have limitations in handling heavy and/or non-cylindrical workpiece.
Boring machine can be horizontal and vertical, which refers to the orientation of
the axis of rotation of the machine spindle that provides the primary motion. A
horizontal boring machine is shown in Fig. 6. There are two possible setups in this
machine. The first setup is depicted in Fig. 7a. Similar to lathe, this setup mounts the
workpiece on the rotating spindle. The cutting tool is attached to a cantilevered
boring bar, which is mounted on the worktable so that it can be fed into the
workpiece. This setup is not preferred because the boring bar must be very stiff
820 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
to avoid deflection and vibration during cutting. Also, this setup still has limitation
in handling large and heavy diameter workpiece. The second setup is depicted in
Fig. 7b. Similar to the first setup, the tool is mounted to a boring bar. However, this
long bar can be supported on its two ends, increasing the tool stiffness. The
workpiece is mounted on the worktable, which can be moved in the feed and/or
cross-feed directions. This setup is more versatile as it can handle heavier work-
pieces. A facing operation can be carried out on a horizontal boring machine, using
either of the two setups. However, it requires a special tool holder, instead of a
boring bar.
A vertical boring machine is shown in Fig. 8, which is used for large and heavy
workpiece, generally larger and heavier than that of the horizontal boring machine.
The setup for this machine is shown in Fig. 9. The workpiece is mounted on the
worktable, which is rotated by the spindle providing the primary motion
(C’ motion). The cutting tool is mounted on the toolhead, which can be fed either
perpendicular (Z motion) or parallel (X motion) to the axis of the workpiece
rotation. Facing the top surface of the workpiece can also be done using this
machine.
Shaping Machine
Shaping machine is used to yield flat machined surfaces. A horizontal shaping
machine is shown in Fig. 10. The single-point tool is attached on the toolhead,
which is mounted on the end of the ram. The ram linkage mechanism provides the
primary linear motion (X motion) of the toolhead as shown in Fig. 11. The forward
stroke of the mechanism performs the cutting, while the return stroke lifts the tool
20 Machine Tools for Machining 821
Toolhead
Worktable
Base
Continuous feed
motion (–Z)
Machined
surface
Toolhead
Single-point
tool
Workpiece
Worktable
Primary
Fig. 9 Vertical boring
motion (–C’)
operation
slightly to provide clearance and then resets the next pass. The crank of the
mechanism can be either mechanically or hydraulically driven. To minimize
the overall machining time, the mechanism is designed to yield higher speed on
the return stroke than on the forward stroke. The length of the stroke can be adjusted
to achieve the desired machining geometry. On completion of each return stroke,
the worktable, on which the workpiece is mounted, is fed laterally (Y motion) to
facilitate the next cutting cycle. The height of the worktable can be adjusted to
modify the depth of cut. The cutting mechanism of horizontal shaping is shown in
Fig. 12. Feed on shaping machines is defined in mm/stroke.
A vertical shaping machine, which is also called a slotting machine, is shown in
Fig. 13. The machine configuration and cutting mechanism, shown in Fig. 14, are
822 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
Toolhead
Crank
Stroke
(longer arc)
Return stroke
(shorter arc)
similar to that of the horizontal machine, except for the orientation of the primary
motion. The ram mechanism of this machine gives vertical forward and return
strokes to the cutting tool (Z motion). Thus, this machine is used to yield flat vertical
surfaces.
20 Machine Tools for Machining 823
Z
Y
X Tool post
Column Worktable
Base
Hand wheel for
feed drive
Hand wheel for
cross-feed drive
Cross slide
Fig. 13 Vertical shaping machine (Courtesy: Ajax Machine Tools International, Ltd.)
Planing Machine
The shaping machine is unsuitable for generating flat surfaces on very large
workpiece because of the limitations on the stroke and overhang of the ram
mechanism. This problem is solved in the planing machine by applying the linear
primary motion to the workpiece (X’ motion), instead of the tool. A two-column
planing machine is shown in Fig. 15. The toolhead is mounted on the crossrail,
which facilitates appropriate intermittent feed motion (Y motion). The column
supports this crossrail. Each column has a feed rail, which facilitates vertical
motion (Z motion) that controls the depth of cut. A side toolhead, which moves
along the vertical column, can be installed if machining the side of the workpiece is
required. Multiple (more than two) toolheads can be mounted either on the crossrail
or column to allow multiple cuts on each pass. The cutting mechanism of planing is
shown in Fig. 16.
824 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
Column
Z Feed rail
Y
Crossrail
X Independent handle
wheel to adjust tool
position
Worktable
Base
Toolhead
A multipoint cutting tool has a series of two or more cutting edges. These tools have
a variety of designs dependent on the machine tools and machining process, most of
which will be covered on this section. Nonetheless, the geometric terms, such as the
rake and flank angles and surfaces, defined earlier for the single-point tool are still
applicable to each cutting edge of a multipoint tool. The cutting action at a selected
point on one cutting edge engaging the workpiece at a given instant is also the same.
Majority of multipoint tools are to be rotated. Thus, they have either a taper
(conical) or parallel (cylindrical) shank for holding purposes or a bore through
which a spindle or arbor can be inserted.
Drilling Machine
The most common form of drilling machine is the bench drill shown in Fig. 17. As
its name implies, this machine is normally bolted down to a bench. Workholding is
normally accomplished by clamping the workpiece in a vise, fixture, or jig onto the
20 Machine Tools for Machining 825
Handle to raise
Spindle
and lower chuck
Chuck
Z Handle to raise
Y Table and lower table
X Column Base
worktable or onto the base. The worktable can be moved up and down the vertical
column and then clamped at the preferred height.
The cutting tool is normally mounted on a three jaw chuck, which is rotated by
the spindle as the primary motion (C motion). The chuck can be moved up and
down manually by a feed handle via a rack and pinion mechanism, which provides
the continuous feed motion (Z motion). The workpiece is always kept stationary
during each machining cycle. On a bench drill of Fig. 17, the workpiece must be
manually shifted to drill other locations.
Drilling is commonly performed using a twist drill to generate an internal
cylindrical surface. An example of cutting process using twist drill is shown in
Fig. 18. This cutting tool normally has two cutting edges, each of which ideally
removes an equal amount of workpiece material. Drilling using the tools presented
herein can also be performed on a lathe. The difference is that in lathe, the primary
rotating motion is provided to the workpiece, while the tool is fed into the
workpiece.
For convenience, the cutting speedV in drilling is generally defined in mm/min
as the speed at the outside diameter of the twist drill:
V ¼ πDN
where D is the diameter of the twist drill in mm and N is the spindle rotational speed
in rev/min. It is defined so for convenience, although much cutting process also
occurs at lower speed close to the axis of tool rotation. The cutting speed is zero at
the tip of the twist drill, which is in the form of a short chisel edge. In drilling a new
826 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
hole, this chisel edge must force its way through the workpiece, resulting in a poor
cutting condition. However, because this contact area is going to be removed, it has
little effect on the quality of the hole produced by the cutting edges. The chips
removed by the cutting edges take a helical form and travel up the helical flutes.
Feed f in drilling is specified in mm/rev. The machining time is given by
L
tm ¼
Nf
where L is the distance traveled by the cutting tool in mm. The material removal
rate (MRR) can be obtained by multiplying the cross-sectional area of the produced
hole with the feed rate:
π
MRR ¼ D2m fN
4
where Dm is the diameter of the machined surface in mm. If an existing hole of
diameter Do is to be enlarged:
π 2
MRR ¼ Dm D2o fN
4
Several other machining operations can be performed on a drilling machine. The
most common ones are illustrated in Fig. 19:
(a) Reaming. The cutting tool, the reamer, is similar to a drill but has several
cutting edges with straight or helical flutes. It is intended to remove a small
amount of workpiece material, but it improves the accuracy and surface finish
of a previously drilled hole.
20 Machine Tools for Machining 827
To drill many holes on heavy workpieces using larger drills, a radial-arm drilling
machine, shown in Fig. 20, is normally used. The workpiece is located on the base
of the machine. The drilling head and motor can be positioned along an arm.
Further, this arm can be positioned along the vertical column and swung in a
horizontal plane about the column, allowing the tool to reach significant distance.
Fig. 20 Radial drill press (Courtesy: Knuth Machine Tools USA, Inc.)
A die is shown in Fig. 23. It has the same cutting action as a tap but is designed to
produce external threads on a cylindrical surface. Most of these operations are also
performed manually. The die wrench is shown in Fig. 24. Nonetheless, external
threading using a die can be carried out on a lathe, in which the tailstock is replaced
with a turret that holds the cutting tool (i.e., the die).
Milling Machine
Milling is considered as the most versatile machining process capable of producing
various three-dimensional shapes. In milling, the rotation of the multipoint cutting
tool, which is the primary motion, has an axis that is perpendicular to the direction
20 Machine Tools for Machining 829
of the feed motion. This is a main distinction of this process from drilling.
The cutting tool in milling is called a mill. The cutting edges are called teeth,
which can be either a solid extension of the mill or indexable inserts attached to the
cutter body. Milling is an interrupted cutting process as revealed by the generated
short chips. On the contrary, the previously described machining processes are
fairly continuous ones that produce long chips. Thus, the material and geometric
properties of mills are to be designed to withstand repetitive cycles of impact forces
and thermal shocks.
Based on the orientation of the mill with respect to the machined surface,
milling operations can be categorized as peripheral and face millings, which are
830 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
Fig. 25 Two basic milling operations: (a) peripheral milling and (b) face milling
shown in Fig. 25. In peripheral milling, the axis of the tool is parallel to the
machined surface. In face milling, the axis of the tool is perpendicular to the
machined surface.
Based on the direction of the feed motion with respect to the rotation of the
cutting tool, milling operations can be categorized as up and down millings, which
are shown in Fig. 26. In up milling, also known as conventional milling, when
cutting the workpiece, the teeth motion is in the opposite direction to the feed
motion. In down milling, also known as climb milling, the teeth motion is in the
same direction as the feed motion during cutting. Consequently, the chip formed in
up milling increases in thickness, while the one in down milling reduces throughout
the cut. Despite exaggeration in Fig. 26, the chip of up milling is longer than that of
down milling (Groover 2007).
20 Machine Tools for Machining 831
Column-and-knee-type machines are the most commonly used ones for general
purpose milling. Herein “column” and “knee” refer to the two main components of
these machines. They can be classified as either horizontal or vertical milling
machine based on the orientation of the main spindle. The aforementioned catego-
rizations of milling operations in Figs. 25 and 26 remain valid for these two
machines. A horizontal milling machine is shown in Fig. 27. The key components
of this machine, which serve the same functions as those of the vertical milling
machines are:
The arbor is a shaft that supports the mill and driven by the spindle. If necessary,
some spacers can be mounted on the arbor to separate two or more mills. The
overarm is to support the arbor. For a horizontal milling machine, the table provides
the X’ motion, the saddle provides the Z’ motion, and the knee provides the Y’
motion.
The horizontal milling machine is well suited for peripheral milling. Several
processes related to peripheral milling can be performed on this machine based on
the size and position of the mill with respect to the workpiece. The operations, in
which the feed motion is either into or out of the paper, are shown in Fig. 28:
(a) Slab milling. This is the simplest form of peripheral milling, on which the width
of the tool extends beyond both sides of the workpiece.
(b) Side milling. The mill, which can either be wider or narrower than the work-
piece, is used to machine the side of the workpiece.
(c) Slot milling. The mill, which is narrower than the workpiece, is used to create a
slot in the workpiece. If a thin mill is used to cut the workpiece in two, the
process is called saw milling.
(d) Straddle milling. This process is the same as side milling, but two mills are used
at the same time to cut both sides of the workpiece.
The shape of the mill determines the shape of the machine surface, which is
referred as form milling. Various shapes of mills that can be mounted on the arbor
of a horizontal milling machine are shown in Fig. 29. Cylindrical mill in Fig. 29a is
20 Machine Tools for Machining 833
suitable to create flat surfaces, angle mill in Fig. 29b is suitable to create angular
surfaces (e.g., chamfers and serrations), convex mill in Fig. 29c is suitable to create
concave surface, and concave mill in Fig. 29d is suitable to create convex surface.
The cutting speed V for milling in mm/min is the peripheral speed of the mill,
which is defined as
V ¼ πDN
where D is the diameter of the mill in mm and N is the spindle rotational speed in
rev/min. The feed f in milling is usually defined in feed/tooth, which represents the
size of chip removed by each tooth measured parallel to the feed direction (i.e., the
chip load). The relationship between feed/tooth and feed rate fr, which is the linear
speed of the workpiece in mm/min, is defined as
f r ¼ Nnf
lþL
tm ¼
fr
MRR ¼ wdf r
It is important that the MRR formulation neglects the initial entry of the mill
before the full engagement with the workpiece because it is based on the assump-
tion that l is much smaller than L, which is not generally true. This equation can be
applied to the other milling operations by making the proper adjustment in the
computation of the machined cross-sectional area.
A column-and-knee-type vertical milling machine is shown in Fig. 31.
The table provides the X’ motion, the saddle provides the Y’ motion, and the knee
20 Machine Tools for Machining 835
(a) Conventional face milling. In this process, the diameter of the mill is longer
than the width of the workpiece.
(b) Shoulder milling. The mill overhangs at the side of the workpiece on which the
machining takes place. Hence, this process creates a shoulder feature.
(c) End milling. The diameter of the mill is less than the width of the workpiece,
creating a slot in the workpiece.
(d) Profile milling. The periphery of the mill is used to machine the outside
periphery of the workpiece. In contrast to the previous three milling process,
the end of the mill does not touch the workpiece.
(e) Pocket milling. This is a derivative of end milling, in which the end mill is used
to mill shallow pockets.
(f) Surface contouring. This process uses a ball-end or ball-nose mill to
machine three-dimensional surfaces (Dhupia and Girsang 2012). To do so,
this end mill is fed with respect to the workpiece across a curvilinear path at
close intervals.
The cutting tools for the vertical milling machine come in various shapes and
configurations. Each tool is specially designed to optimize a specific milling
836 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
Fig. 32 Facial milling operations (d), (e), and (f) (Courtesy: Sandvik Coromant)
operation on certain materials. A face mill in Fig. 33 consists of a cutter body and
replaceable inserts. The inserts act as the cutting edges to be mounted on the cutter
body. For conventional face milling, the machining mostly occurs at the end of the
mill. To minimize the overall machining time, some cutter bodies are of large
diameter and can accommodate up to 10 or 12 inserts. Long edge mill in Fig. 34 is
optimized to perform shoulder and profile milling operations. The design of this
mill is in contrast with that of the face mill because most machining of this process
occurs at the cutting edges on the periphery of the mill. Solid end mills, such as
20 Machine Tools for Machining 837
shown in Fig. 35a, are versatile because end mills can be used to perform almost all
the previously mentioned face milling operations. However, due to design and cost
considerations, such end mills do not generally come in large sizes. Square-end
and ball-end mills are the two most commonly used end mills. Indexable end mills,
shown in Fig. 35b, are cheaper alternatives for the solid end mills, which are
specialized for end milling operations.
Possible relative motions between the mill and workpiece in face milling oper-
ation are shown in Fig. 36. It is customary to allow for some distance l in mm for the
mill to approach the workpiece and some distance k in mm for the mill to leave the
838 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
Fig. 36 Approach and overtravel distances for two cases of face milling operations
workpiece. In both possible motions, k ¼ l. The first motion is when the mill is
centered over the rectangular machined surface. Thus, as shown in Fig. 36a
D
k¼l¼
2
The second one is when the mill overhangs at one side of the workpiece. As shown
in Fig. 36b
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
k ¼ l ¼ wðD wÞ
For either motion, the machining time is given by
2l þ L
tm ¼
fr
rates. In bed-type machines, the worktable is directly mounted on the base or bed.
Thus, there is no knee and the workpiece can only be moved in longitudinal
direction. However, these machines have high stiffness, allowing higher feed
rates and depths of cut; thus, higher material removal rates. Single-spindle
bed-type machines are called the simplex mills, and the spindle can be either
horizontal or vertical. Two-spindle bed-type machines are called the duplex mills,
and the three-spindle ones are understandably called triplex mills. Multiple
spindles allow simultaneous machining of two or three workpiece surfaces.
Planer-type mills are similar to the bed-type ones, but for even larger workpiece
and higher production rate. Their general appearance resembles that of the
planing machine shown in Fig. 15, but for milling instead of planing. Accordingly,
one or more spindles for mills are mounted instead of toolheads for single-point
tools.
Broaching Machine
Broaching machine uses a broach, which is a multipoint cutting tool that is moved
linearly with respect to the workpiece in the direction of the axis of the broach. The
workpiece is held stationary throughout the machining process. Most broaching
machines can be classified as either horizontal or vertical machine based on the tool
axis, along which the direction of the primary motion of the tool is. A manually
powered vertical broaching machine, or a broaching press, is shown in Fig. 37. For
higher production rates and harder materials, hydraulically powered broaching
machines are normally used. The mechanism of a broaching process is shown
in Fig. 38.
Broaching is most often utilized to machine keyways. A variety of features can
be machined through either internal or external broaching. External broaching is
performed on the outside surface of the workpiece. Internal broaching is to machine
internal surface of a hole. For internal broaching, a starting hole must be present so
840 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
Fig. 38 Broaching
mechanism
that the broach can be inserted. Some possible features from internal broaching are
shown in Fig. 39. Similar features can also be applied on the external surface.
In broaching, the feed f is provided by staggering of the teeth on the broach, in
which each tooth removes a thin layer of material or cut per tooth. As the machined
surface is usually produced during one pass the tool, the machining timetm in min is
given by
L
tm ¼
V
where L is the length of the broach in mm and V is the speed of the broach in
mm/min.
20 Machine Tools for Machining 841
Fig. 41 Horizontal spindle surface grinding machine with reciprocating table (Courtesy:
Prayosha Enterprise)
Fig. 44 Cylindrical grinding operations: (a) external surface and (b) internal surface
Fig. 45 External cylindrical grinding machine (Courtesy: Knuth Machine Tools USA, Inc.)
Fig. 46 Internal cylindrical grinding machine (Courtesy: Paragon Machinery Co., Ltd.)
thickness (i.e., longer internal radius). Plunge grinding operation, which has no
traverse motion, forms an internal groove in the workpiece.
Fig. 47 External centerless grinding machine (Courtesy: Shenzhen Henfux Technology, Ltd.)
lower speed. This roll can be slightly inclined to certain angle θ to control the
through feed of the workpiece, which rests on a rest blade. The through feed f in
mm/min can be estimated as (Kalpakjian and Schmid 2010)
f ¼ πDr N r sin θ
Machining Centers
The machine tools in the preceding discussions are designed to perform limited
(often only one) types of operation, either manually or with certain level of
automation. However, manufacturing products or parts usually require different
848 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
Machine tools consist of stationary and moving bodies, as well as the drives. The
stationary bodies include the machine base or bed, columns, and housings. These
bodies are to support, cover, and protect the moving bodies, such as the worktables,
spindles, gears, and bearings. In general, the dimensions of machine tool structures are
overestimated to provide high rigidity, thermal stability, and damping. These proper-
ties are necessary to minimize static and dynamic deformations during machining.
850 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
Fig. 52 Universal
Machining Center (Courtesy:
Gebr¨uder Heller
Maschinenfabrik, GmbH)
Machine tool drives provide motion to the moving bodies. The drives can be
categorized into two main groups, which are the spindle and feed drives. This
section describes the building components of each drive and the numerical control
system that regulates the motions of each drive.
Spindle Drives
As discussed in the previous section, the spindle drives are to rotate either the cutting
tools, as in the case of drilling, milling, and grinding, or the workpiece, as in the case of
turning. The machine tool spindle drive provides the relative primary motion between
the cutting tool and the workpiece, which is necessary to perform the material removal
operation. The spindle drive must provide sufficient angular speed, torque, and power
to the spindle shaft, which is held by roller or magnetic bearings in the spindle housing.
Therefore, the characteristics of the spindle have significant impacts on the machine
tool performance and quality of the machined parts.
Industrial spindle drives commonly come in three designs, as shown in Fig. 53.
Active cooling is often required, generally implemented through air or water
cooling. Conventional spindles are popular in machine tools due to their modular
integration to machine tools. It consists of a motor externally driving the spindle
shaft through either a V-belt or a coupling. There may be a single-step gear reducer
and a clutch between the electrical motor and spindle shaft. This design is normally
applied for low to medium spindle speed up to 15,000 rev/min.
The developments in rolling element materials, bearing design, lubrications, elec-
trical drive, and power electronics have allowed the construction of compact direct
20 Machine Tools for Machining 851
Fig. 54 Internal components of motor spindle (Courtesy: GMN Paul M¨uller Industrie GmbH &
Co. KG)
drive spindles, which do not require mechanical transmission elements. These spin-
dles are also called as motor spindles, which consists of elements shown in Fig. 54.
The reduced inertia and friction, as well as rigidity and lower vibration of this compact
design, encourage its implementations for high-speed machining. Recent trends in
design and development of spindle drives are reviewed in (Abele et al. 2010).
Industrial spindles are equipped with sensors for condition monitoring. The key
measurements include temperature of the motor stator, temperature of the bearings
temperatures, rotational speed, mechanical torque, motor currents, and electrical power.
Feed Drives
The feed drives move the machine structures, on which the workpiece or cutting
tool is mounted to a desired location. The structures are driven along a rail or a
852 I.P. Girsang and J.S. Dhupia
guide. Performance of the drives and guides in terms of speed and positioning
accuracy plays significant role in material removal rate and the product quality
obtained from the machine tool.
Feed drives are powered by either linear motors or rotary motors with ball screw
or rack pinion, as shown in Fig. 55. The ball screw mechanism can be connected to
the rotary motor directly or through gear reduction, which is necessary to amplify
the torque for large heavy-duty machine tools. Conventional machine tools have
multiple gear reduction steps to obtain the desired feed rate. In term of control, the
reference feed rate specified in the NC program is combined with the acceleration
and jerk limits of the feed drives. A real-time trajectory generation algorithm then
sends discrete position commands to the feed drive. The corresponding digital
velocity commands are then converted into electrical signals, which are fed to the
amplifier and motor of the drive.
The guides or rails are to direct the motion of the moving parts in machine tools.
The guides must be of a high degree of accuracy as it directly affects the machining
quality (Dhupia et al. 2007, 2008a). Further, they should have good toughness,
damping, load capacity, and stiffness to withstand the loads, impacts, and vibrations
during the machining process. Finally, as moving components, they need to possess
wear resistance and low friction characteristics to avoid gripping, stick–slip
20 Machine Tools for Machining 853
a
Machine
NC DAC Drives Drive train
component
b
Machine
NC DAC Drives Drive train
component
Sensor
Fig. 56 Schematic of components of (a) open-loop and (b) closed-loop numerical controls
phenomena, and surface deterioration. There are various types of guides, some of
which are friction guides (or slideways), rolling guides, hydrostatic guides, and
magnetic levitation guides. Different technologies of guides and feed drive assem-
bly designs are reviewed in detail in (Altintas et al. 2011).
Numerical Controls
Fig. 57 Movement of
cutting tools in NC machine
tools: (a) point-to-point and
(b) continuous
Some alternative machine tool designs have emerged in recent decades, each of
which comes up with certain strength as compared to the dedicated machine tools or
CNC machining centers described earlier. Research and development on these
machine tools have been active to promote industrial acceptance by tackling the
limitations, improving the reliability, and reducing the costs. This section aims to
highlight a few important machine tool technologies, which have established their
presence and have been envisioned to have potentially high penetration into the
manufacturing floor.
Industrial Robots
For machining, the manipulator is to provide the relative motion between the
cutting tool and workpiece. The end effector can be equipped with either a single-
point or multipoint cutting tool. If required, a spindle can be attached on the end
effector, as shown in Fig. 59a. Another option is to mount the workpiece on the end
effector, while the cutting tool (on a spindle) is mounted on a worktable, as shown
in Fig. 59b.
The control system receives input, either from sensors or programmed codes,
and delivers commands to the actuators to regulate the movement of the robot.
Industrial robots can be classified based on the commanded input.
Fig. 59 End effector for robotic machining: (a) spindle and tool holding (Courtesy: Stäubli Inc.)
and (b) workpiece holding (Courtesy: ABB Inc.)
the industrial robot, which is easily excited during typical machining operations and
creates large amplitude vibration due to resonance. This resonant vibration is
unwanted because it produces poor surface quality, breaks the cutting tool, and
damages the robot.
20 Machine Tools for Machining 859
Today’s competitive markets are marked by a trend toward short product life cycle
and rapid change in the customer’s demand for product type and quantity. This
requires a rapid response from the manufacturing system. The earliest
20 Machine Tools for Machining 861
change within the scope of its lifetime to respond to market changes relatively
quickly. The aim of RMS is to achieve “exactly the capacity and functionality
needed, exactly when needed.”
While a 3-axis CNC machine can be the basic module for reconfiguration for
many manufacturing systems, the Reconfigurable Machine Tool (RMT) can bring
the principle of reconfiguration to the component level for a manufacturing system
(Landers et al. 2001). Consider an example of choosing a machine tool for the
finishing milling process of automotive cylinder head with inclined surfaces.
Various parameters in this process, including tooling tolerances and process param-
eters, were the same for all inclined surfaces. However, the surfaces to be milled are
at different angles with respect to the horizontal: 30 (for V6 cylinder head) and 45
(for V8 cylinder head), as shown in Fig. 63. A dedicated machine tool solution
would need a customized station for each angle. Thus, considering the product
varieties and changing product demands, one will most likely lean toward the CNC
machines. However, a commercial CNC machine tool solution would require a
5-axis CNC machine tool with orthogonal kinematics. As an alternative, one now
can consider a reconfigurable solution where the machine tool is capable of 3-axis
kinematics with one additional passive DOF available for reconfiguration
depending on the surface inclination.
Figure 64 shows several possible RMT configurations based on a three-DOF
kinematics. The first row shows the pivot-type RMTs in which the axis can be
rotated along a certain axis. The second row shows the arch-type ones in which the
spindle can be oriented along an arch. These various machine concepts were
evaluated based on lowest natural frequency and workspace. The pivot-type
RMTs had the advantage of having lower moving mass and, therefore, were stiffer.
The lowest natural frequencies obtained for pivot-type RMTs were higher than
those of the different arch-type RMTs. However, the workspace of pivot-type
RMTs was restricted at large reconfiguration angles.
The first full-scale prototype of side-mounted arch-type RMT (Dhupia
et al. 2006, 2008b), based on Fig. 64f, is shown in Fig. 65. It was built in 1999 in
the Engineering Research Center for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems
20 Machine Tools for Machining 863
Fig. 65 An arch-type
reconfigurable machine tool
Summary
There are two main principle of all machining process. The first principle is to
provide suitable relative motions between the cutting tool and the workpiece to
produce the characteristic geometry. The second one is to impart the shape of the
cutting tool to the workpiece in order to create part geometry. This chapter has
discussed the commercially available machine tools and machining processes based
on these two principles. The majority of machine tools can be differentiated based
on the employed cutting tools. In specific, this chapter has highlighted the machine
drives and control, which are responsible to provide and regulate the necessary
motions of the machine tool components. The development of machine tools has
been moving toward increasing productivity and versatility. This chapter has also
discussed a few promising nontraditional machine tools, namely, industrial robots,
parallel and hybrid kinematic machine tools, and reconfigurable machine tools.
Each of these designs has entered today’s manufacturing floor bringing certain
superiority as compared to the conventional machine tools.
Machining and machine tool will always be key components of a manufacturing
system. Thus, research and development in this area will remain relevant and
impactful to improve the efficiency, improve the reliability, and reduce the cost
of machine tools and machining processes.
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